DIAGNOSTIC RELEVANCE OF NONSPECIFIC TUMOR-ASSOCIATED IMMUNE DYSFUNCTIONS

In this article we will recapitulate alterations of non-specific immun e parameters associated with the presence of malignant tumors. Althoug h not specific for certain tissues or tumor antigens, some of these ph enomena appear very early in tumor development and exhibit high specif icities for malignant proliferative processes in general. As an exampl e of such a very sensitive ''indirect'' tumor marker, we will review o ur experiences with a characteristic tumor-associated shift in IgG sub classes, and we will show that this feature has considerable diagnosti c potential in the early diagnosis of primary and/or secondary maligna nt diseases, particularly in cases where conventional serological mark ers;are not available.